RM80 and its skip sector feature

[utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!unix-wizards]

>From sdyer at BBN-UNIX Fri Sep 25 14:04:52 1981
Having just started to look at  bad block handling within the UNIX kernel,
I am fascinated by the "skip sector" feature of DEC's RM80.  But, it's
not entirely clear to me from the RM80 User's Guide whether the sector
skipping is performed entirely by the controller, or whether it interfaces
with the device driver in some way.

Has anybody begun to use this feature?  Is the DEC STD 144 "bad block"
handling still necessary when this is turned on?  What happens if more
than one sector in a track is "skippable"?  Any comments anyone may have
would be welcome.

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